A.n.- Hey everyone, another chapter for you all. I really do hope that you enjoy this chapter. Thank you to all my loyal readers, I can't ask for a better audience.

Satisfied 27

The first time Alya called, Marinette sent it to voicemail. As well-mannered as her friend was, she was probably trying to convince her not to go on the date despite making her wishes known. It was hard enough to have the resolve to come out here when during the week her activities consisted of moping.

"Luka?" She called out pushing her lips into a smile weaving her way through the crowd to greet him.

"Marinette! I'm so glad you could come." Her eyes wandered to the people who played with him and could have sworn she saw money exchange hands. Not that she had time to question it, as he whisked her away to a food vendor. They talked in line about everything ranging from aspiration in careers to what a perfect Saturday would look like. Marinette beamed as they exchanged conversation, her thoughts farther from the blonde than they had been all week until she felt the second buzz. She didn't reach for her phone, but the call caused her smile to fall.

"Is everything okay?" Luka pressed his eyebrows knitted together.

"Uh, yeah." She replied quickly, although judging but his face he didn't buy her answer completely. The phone vibrated again.

By the fifth call, Marinette knew that something was wrong and excused herself despite the odd looks she received from Luka's bandmates. Alya knew where she was and kept being persistent in blowing up her phone anyway. Either Alya had a good reason or she was about to be chewed out. "Hello?" She had to turn from the noise just to hear the other line.

"Marinette! Thank goodness. Why weren't you picking up your phone?" Alya's voice was too panicked for Marinette's liking. Sometimes Alya had a flair for the dramatic side, but she wouldn't be acting this way if something wasn't freaking her out.

"Alya, what's wrong?" She asked as her own pulse started to race. Did something happen between her and Nino?

"It's Adrien," she replied, and Marinette felt the air evaporate from her lungs.

"What about him?" She stumbled across her words. Without any more information, her mind started compiling a list of worst-case scenarios, the color drained from her face.

"I went to go visit him M, he's in bad shape. This separation isn't good for either of you. He's planning on going to Milan ..." Marinette let Alya's words wash over her. Adrien had said that he wanted to give her space, but this was extreme. It wasn't like she never wanted to see his face again, she still cared for him. Another thought kicked in after a couple seconds.

"But what about Chat Noir?" She blurted out, her worry overpowering the fear that someone might hear her. The silence from Alya gutted her. Marinette was frightened for the answer before she ever received it.

"He's returning the ring in the morning," Alya answered cracking Marinette's heart.

"He can't do that!" Her partner was giving up? Marinette's stomach churned as a wave of nausea hit her. This was all her fault. She should have stopped him from moving out of the apartment or reached out. Marinette knew exactly what being Chat Noir meant to him...and he was willing to give it up? After all the time they spent together?

"It appears he can. But I know someone who could change his mind." Alya used her scheming tone, but Marinette didn't notice, she was focused on a reality where Adrien didn't return his ring.

"What if we can't get a hold of Master Fu at this time of night?" She asked only to receive a frustrated sigh from her best friend. Master Fu was always the first point of contact with these things.

"He'll only respect Adrien's wishes. What he really needs is you. He'll listen to what you have to say." Alya must be mistaken, she had to be the last person that Adrien wanted to see after she hung him out to dry and then left him there.

"Me? What could I do?" There was no guarantee that going to see him wouldn't move up His deadline instead of delaying it.

"That boy is utterly in love with you and you need to ask that question? Convince him to stay." Alya replied. Convince him to stay rolled repeatedly through her mind.

"But"- Marinette stopped herself short. The concert. Thunder rumbled in the distance. She had to go now, otherwise, she might lose her nerve.

"If you don't go talk to him, you'll lose him." That pushes her over the edge. She couldn't lose him, it would hurt too much.

"Thanks, Alya." She ended the call and immediately her eyes scanned for her "date". Even though she was ditching him for the night, she was at least polite enough to inform him.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" She heard Luka's voice behind her.

"A friend needs me," she didn't have time to explain the complexity of her relationship with Adrien. As in love with him, as she was, there was no official title.

"It's that guy.." His blue eyes widened in revelation and all Marinette wondered how he knew. It wasn't like he witnessed them interacting. "He was hiding behind the car when I asked you out." While it didn't sound like something Adrien Agreste would do, Chat Noir, was a different story.

"I'm sorry," she said although she felt lame that she couldn't explain more.

"Are you in love with him?" The very tips of her lips tweaked up into a smile for the first time in days.

"Yes, I am."

She stood before the towering apartments her breath caught in her throat and her heart raced at a mile a minute as the rain soaked through her skin. Alya claimed that he would listen to her, that couldn't be further from the truth. Whatever "power" she had over him she lost in their fight. He didn't want to see her, it was the reason he hadn't reached out, but here she was. Marinette would hate herself if she didn't try and stop him. She didn't want another Chat Noir who called her his lady or used puns until it made her smile she wanted him. It would cost any pride or ego that she had left, a price she would more than gladly pay not to lose him. Her fist unclenched the lucky charm bracelet now indented into her skin because of the pressure. She couldn't lose either of them. As she climbed to his floor, the closer she got, she could feel him in the apartment. The idea that their bond was that strong despite what they went through gave her the courage to pull out her cell phone and opened it to Adrien's name. In a moment of instinct, they danced over the keys and hit send.

Are you at home? Alone?

She wouldn't be able to face him if anyone was keeping him company, even if it was someone as familiar as Alya. The three dots that were displayed when he was typing his response seemed to last an eternity.

Yes

She let out the breath she was holding. It wasn't too late.

"Marinette?" His voice carried through the door and every ounce of courage ** slipped away. Adrien didn't need her, he needed Ladybug or Master Fu. Someone who could talk reason into him. What if she couldn't convince him or he hated her? He could change his mind without her. So, she did the only thing that she could think of: run. Marinette didn't know which direction she could go, everything was blurred through her vision. She faintly heard Adrien calling out her name, but it pushed her body to move faster.

A wall of rain met her the second she rushed out the double doors if she found an alley she could transform.

"Marinette." She cursed under her breath as Adrien had caught up to her. If only she had a couple more seconds then she would have been free, now she had to deal with the consequences of her rash decision.

"I wasn't expecting…" He didn't have to finish his sentence for her to understand, but she didn't have an answer for him. His expression was teetering between pained and confused, she didn't know which.

"I don't know why I'm here," she confessed staring at her shoes. Wouldn't it be selfish to ask him to keep it if he desperately wanted to get away from her that badly?

"Mar," he shouted over the rain. "Can you come inside, you're drenched."

"You can't leave," her tears started to blend in with the rain. "You can't." Adrien closed the gap to wrap his arms around her while the rain soaked his clothes. She melted into his touch that she had craved for the last week. Whether he was Chat, Adrien, or somewhere in between, he was undoubtedly one of her best friends. While there were still things to talk about and answer for, at that moment everything was at ease. She heard a chorus of I'm sorry, whispered in a loop outside her ear. "Alya told me...why you're marrying her." She felt his body stiffen, but he made no efforts to back away from the embrace. A roll of thundered echoed in the sky.

"Not here," he mumbled. "Come up to the apartment, please?" She nodded and as the two started to walk, somewhere between the rain to the elevator his hand had slipped in with hers.

Adrien felt a wave of disappointment wash over him as she let go of his hand when the elevator opened at his floor. But the feeling was quickly overcome by his embarrassment of the fact he had dashed out his apartment so quickly that he had left the door wide open. Anyone in the building could have wandered in. Adrien quickly ushered her in and closed the door. "Do you want something to drink? Maybe something hot to warm you up; coffee, tea, hot chocolate?" He disappeared into the kitchen, but Marinette wanted answers before she desired something that heated her insides.

"You were really going to leave, weren't you?" Marinette's eyes glanced around the apartment to see various boxes half full of what little items were left. He was going to leave her, leave Ladybug, without so much as a goodbye. "Why?" She walked to the archway in time to see him staring at the hot chocolate.

"Mar, let's sit down-" He began only to be cut off.

"You're stalling. After everything you put me through I want an explanation." Marinette hadn't meant to snap at him, it had boiled up from residual frustration inside.

"I thought it was the only way I could forget you is if I left, since you made it very clear that you hate me."

"I don't hate you." Her words tumbled out, he thought that?

"What?" Adrien replied wide-eyed, but Marinette couldn't stay on that, she needed to save Chat Noir from himself too.

"And what are you thinking, wanting to give up your ring? Your team needs you." I need you, her mind added.

"They need a Chat Noir," He parroted from his argument with Alya the other day.

"But he wouldn't be you!" She shouted exasperatedly. She needed to dial her feelings back unless she wanted to blurt out that she was ladybug. Marinette had already decided that she was going to tell him but now wasn't the right time. She didn't want to add any more fuel to the fire between them. If she opened that can of worms, he would have a lot more questions. A silence settled between the two that reached out to all corners of the apartment. Adrien kept his eyes locked on hers.

"Tell me the blackmail has something to do with you leaving," she pleaded. Marinette needed to know that something else shared the blame for Adrien wanting to go.

"Yes," he breathed out daring to take a couple steps forward to bridge the gap between them. His heart pounded in his ear so much so that he was surprised she couldn't hear it. She didn't hate him.

"If it wasn't for the blackmail, I would have ended it months ago. I'm convinced of nothing more than you are the only one for me." He reached out the took her face in his hands, the contact alone caused goosebumps to litter his skin. As his eyes searched hers once more, they started to fill with longing. "Mar, why did you come visit me…" He allowed his voice to choke out, it was harder to think with her this close in proximity. Not that he wasn't grateful, but after that fight went down between them he thought he would never see her again. The way his thumb grazed the edge of her jawline increased his desire to pull her in for a kiss right then and there, but the lingering doubt prevented him. "I know you had a date with Luka." He mumbled only to have her fingers covered his lips.

"You know why," she replied gently her voice ever so inviting. Adrien was sure that his heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened as she recited his line back to him. He knew exactly what he meant when he said that in the kitchen to her, she couldn't possibly mean-

His mind grew to a halt when he saw her eyes flicker down to his lips just for a moment before reconnecting with his. He silently begged to kiss her, even though his control was dwindling rapidly with the look she was giving him. Marinette answered him closing the gap to graze her lips gently against his at first.

It took a couple seconds for the pair to process the nervousness fluttering between their mingling breaths. As it sunk in the pressure increased and Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck pulling them flush against each other. Adrien's hands immediately snaked down to her waist, fingers leaving fire on the exposed half an inch of skin between her soaked shirt and jeans. The contact earned a gasp followed by a deep sigh when his tongue slipped to join hers. There was a limited time before he lost control he could already feel his drenched jeans growing more uncomfortable by the second.

"Mar," his breath staggered when she pulled back for air. "I don't know if I-" Marinette took the mission upon herself to latch her lips to his neck savoring the flavor that was uniquely him. A low rumble escaped his throat unconsciously tilting his head back to grant her better access to the flesh. Somewhere in his self-control, he managed to gently push Marinette back so there was at least a foot between their faces. He needed to know, if they started down this path- he would rather not deal with the overwhelming temptation if she wasn't sure what she wanted. Her bluebell eyes stared up in confusion of why he pulled away. "Are you sure?" He finally asked proud that we managed to squeeze those words out without his voice wavering in tone. Being with Marinette, was something that he had dreamed of for as long as he could remember. If she ended up regretting her decision, he wouldn't know what he would do.

His pulse shot up as she nodded and a whispered" yes" spilled from her mouth. That was all he needed, his lips crashing again on hers as all thoughts outside of them faded away. His fingers clenched the edges of her t-shirt desperately itching to explore the skin underneath. He slowly peeled the shirt upwards, Marinette helped him with maneuvering her arms as the fabric was raised over her head. Somehow his shirt joined hers at a fraction of the time. The second it was stripped from their bodies, it dropped to the floor long forgotten as the two rejoined by the mouth. They stumbled back until Marinette's back hit the wall. With his hands not stifled by clinging fabric, he hoisted her up and immediately her legs locked around him. The wall acted as a source of stabilization as his hand started to roam the exposed flesh. A series of moans were elicited as he moved away from her mouth to the spots at the base of her neck that drove her crazy.

"Princess," he breathed across her skin.

"Bedroom." She ordered her voice dripping with urgency. He didn't need to be told twice.

"That was," Marinette's voice gave out her mind still too high to come up with the right word.

"Perfect," he finished for her, kissing a hickey he had created on her shoulder as he rolled off her. The two adjusted so Marinette laid her head on his chest wrapping her arms around his torso.

"I love you," she whispered against his skin and his grin grew as he peered down at her affectionately.

"I love you too." The two grew silent, the question of 'what now' entered both their minds.

"Adrien, if I asked you to do something, would you?" She didn't need to look to feel his eyes attached to her.

"Anything," he replied snuggling closer.

"Run away with me."

A.n.- One more chapter until we jump back to the rehearsal dinner. Let me know what know what you think!